Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 96 Mercosur ([-])

The price system for Colonia textiles collapsed after a modest deal between the East Coasters and the Rodriguez Chamber of Commerce.The La Plata merchants who got the news will no longer buy high-priced goods from the British. The local merchants who have joined the Rodriguez Chamber of Commerce are waiting for the quota allocation of the Chamber of Commerce with peace of mind, while those from Santa Fe and even further away from Asunción The merchants are anxiously awaiting the next arrival of the East Coasters.Some impatient ones even planned to avoid the eyes and ears of the Rodriguez Chamber of Commerce and secretly sneaked from the inland to the East Coast Republic to purchase.

The English businessmen watched this scene with gloomy faces, speechless for a long time.

"The selling price of cotton cloth is only 8 shillings (1 pound = 20 shillings ≈ 4 yuan) a piece, and the woolen cloth is only 6 pounds 5 shillings a piece. Are these people on the east coast crazy?!" George Hampton was a little annoyed , "Can they make money at this price? Impossible! Unless... they are selling stolen goods! Mr. Sheldon, Mr. Clifford, La Plata is our market, we can't lose here, I After paying the membership fee, this is our market."

"Yes, gentlemen." The cloth merchant John Hill also shouted, "you have heard just now, these East Coasters will continue to sell cotton and cloth in a month's time, and they are going to compete with us for a long time. If If we don't respond appropriately, maybe we will lose this market completely."

Peter Sheldon and William Clifford fell silent. Obviously, what happened in front of them exceeded their expectations, and things became very difficult.

"Mr. Clifford, have there been any ships missing from the East India Company recently? I mean the kind of goods loaded with cotton cloth." Peter Sheldon, a middle-level merchant and adventurer company and a cloth merchant, turned his head and asked, "Maybe we should try to Find out where the cotton cloth these East Coasters sell comes from, do they produce it themselves or import it from elsewhere?"

"It doesn't need to be so complicated, Hawke, you go to the pier, pay some people from La Plata to allow you to enter their warehouse, take a closer look at the quality of the cloth of the people on the east coast, and tell me when you come back, go quickly ’” said William Clifford, turning to one of his employees, who departed.

Everyone stood here silently for a while, waiting for the return of the East India Company employee.After a while, the employee named Hawke came back from the pier. He nodded to William Clifford, and then said: "The cotton cloth of the people on the east coast is light and breathable, relatively silky, and the texture is also very good. The quality of the Indian cotton cloth we have is much better. It seems that the cotton cloth is produced by themselves as they say."

"Where's the wool?" asked George Hampton nervously.

Hawke glanced at him, and then said affirmatively: "Same. Their woolen cloth is tough and wear-resistant, but it feels very delicate. The woolen cloth woven from short wool has the advantages of long woolen cloth. Gentlemen, I think we We should continue to pay attention to people on the east coast. If they are not maliciously dumping low prices, then their production costs must be very low, which means that they can still earn or more at the current unprofitable price. Or less profit."

A group of businessmen, large and small, felt a chill at Hawke's words.The quality is not as good as the other party, and the price is much higher than the other party. How can you compete?

"Maybe we can ask our 'Spanish relatives'① for help. After all, losing the market in La Plata will also reduce their own income. Through them, we may be able to ask the officials of La Plata from official channels. Put pressure on them to try to cancel the trade concessions of the East Coasters." Peter Sheldon asked Clifford tentatively.

"You can give it a try, but don't expect too much." William Clifford nodded reservedly. "Besides, I plan to report this matter to the East India Company as soon as possible. What about you, Mr. Sheldon? After Hamburg or London, it is best to report what happened here to your company's senior management. Although the market in La Plata is not very impressive, the nature of this matter is very serious. We may have encountered a formidable competitor. Textile exports account for more than 60% of the Kingdom's total merchandise exports every year, and we must treat this matter with caution."

"Then what about these goods?" John Hill asked cautiously, "If they can't be sold out this time, it will take half a year for the next time, my God, with such a large amount of goods in hand, my There will be problems with cash flow."

"Go to Rio, go to Sao Paulo, go to Bahia, go to Cartagena, go to Veracruz... go to any port that sells these damned goods! Anyway don't stay in Colonia anymore, Let's go, John, let's stop dawdling. Hurry up and get out of here, I'm fed up with the salty sea breeze here!" George Hampton took John Hill's arm and walked towards the pier.

The sale of the goods was not going well, and these British businessmen were not in a good mood. Soon, they left here and returned to their temporary warehouse.At around three o'clock in the afternoon, the British who packed up their goods boarded their merchant ship, hoisted their sails, left the pier silently, and sailed eastward.

……

After Xu Xin, Xiao Baitu and others sent Alvaro and his son away, they sat in a circle with excited faces, checking the harvest of the trip. 500 sabers were sold to the Rodriguez Chamber of Commerce at a preferential price of 2 yuan each, and the income was 1000 yuan; in addition, 10 yuan of red bricks were sold for 200 yuan; and the biggest harvest of this trip was the textiles, 1000 bolts of cotton cloth And 300 pieces of woolen cloth were sold at a "high price" of 9100 yuan, and the gross profit rate exceeded 50%.Although expected, it was still a surprise.After excluding the government tax of 2575 yuan (25% tax rate), the company made a net profit of 2525 yuan on this trip, which can be described as quite profitable.

"Everything is good, but one thing is not good. After all, the market in La Plata is still a bit narrow." Tao Chenxi said with some regret, "I only consume one or two thousand bolts of woolen cloth every year, and if I add more, I will die." With 3 bolts of cotton cloth, we can only provide us with a profit of about [-] yuan a year. Compared with our annual financial gap, this amount of money is of no avail.”

"The low price of our textiles should drive some ordinary civilians who couldn't afford it to join in the purchase, and the final annual consumption should be much higher than it is now. After all, the people in the La Plata area, especially in Paraguay, are still quite large. Wealthy, their purchasing power will not be small. In addition, I hope that the Rodriguez Chamber of Commerce will be as powerful as Alvaro said, so that we may sell goods to Chile and China through him. Upper Peru. Those areas are densely populated and the people’s spending power is also strong, which should drive our textile sales to a new level.” Xu Xin analyzed, “Moreover, Brazil has several times the population of La Plata. , the level of wealth is similar, which is suitable for us to dump products. And our competitors are still these old-faced British people. The so-called "Southern Common Market" can only be dominated by our East Coast Republic in the future, and the British must go away go out!"

"Well said!" Tao Chenxi was a little excited by the prospect Xu Xin described, "We will buy more machines, recruit workers, and expand production when we go back. Grandma, let's fight with the British this time. I still don't believe it, let's If this mechanized industrial production can’t compete with their backward system of combining woolen textiles and handmade workshops in the countryside, then we might as well find a piece of tofu and kill each other.”

"It's easy to add machines, and we can make them ourselves. But what about the raw materials? How to solve it?" Minghui, who had been silent by the side, interjected at this moment, "Industrialized production requires sufficient sources of raw materials and a wide range of commodity dumping areas. Second, Both are indispensable. If the problem of raw materials is not resolved, we will easily get stuck in the neck.”

"This matter must be planned as a whole." Xu Xin thought for a while before saying: "On the one hand, we must find ways to outsource, on the other hand, we must also rely on ourselves. We want to expand our sheep population, and both long-wool and short-wool sheep need Large-scale breeding, large-scale grazing as soon as possible. In addition, cotton planting should also be put on the agenda. The climate in the Hubei section of the duck is barely suitable for planting cotton. Okay, I will report to the Ministry of Trade and the Executive Committee when I go back. This matter must be implemented as soon as possible and strive to form a certain scale of planting within a few years."

"After all, we still have to rely on outsourcing in a short period of time." Minghui continued to pour cold water on it, saying, "Don't blame me for not reminding you. In this era, textile exports are the lifeblood of Britain's finances, known as a national industry. We do this , Grabbing the market indiscriminately, if the British become angry, I am afraid they will find us desperately."

"You mean the British will launch a war against us? This...can't be done?" Xiao Baitu said in surprise.

"It may not necessarily be a direct war. After all, the example of the Spaniards is here. It is a hundred times more difficult for them to travel from an expedition than the Spaniards. But they have other tricks. Have you forgotten what country Britain is? The famous Drake You are familiar with it, right? It is a pirate country! At that time, the king will randomly issue some privateer licenses to the people below, and then you will find that many British ships are rushing over like a pack of wolves, attacking our transport ships , destroying our raw material imports, blocking our product dumping, and even blocking our coastline, can we bear it?"

"Don't tell me, it's really possible." Xiao Baitu sighed, and said, "Damn, who are we trying to make money with? Why is it so difficult!"

"Don't say it's useless." Xu Xin interrupted Xiao Baitu's lament, and said, "No matter how difficult things are, we have to do it! Do you think that even if we give up the textile business, no one will come to trouble us? Hmph, That can only show that you are too naive! A few days ago, the Ministry of Internal Affairs just caught two Spaniards who spied intelligence near the arsenal. Our cannons are of excellent performance, far surpassing the Europeans. No wonder they are not jealous. This is This is the first wave, and more will come in the future. The French, the Dutch, the British, etc. are all coveting our technology. Therefore, we must not be afraid of doing things, and we must face difficulties. Of course, sometimes we must pay attention to strategy , I will report this matter to the executive committee for discussion. Alright, pack up, let's withdraw too!"

①"Spanish relatives": At that time, many British businessmen were looking for some so-called "Spanish relatives" in Seville. These Spaniards without exception had certain influence in the West Indian House or the royal family.After receiving benefits, they issued entry and exit documents to these British ships, claiming that they were their own merchant ships, voluntarily reported to Spanish customs, and paid customs duties. Then these British ships transformed into Spanish ships and sailed unimpeded to the American colonies trade.At that time, among the commodities needed by Spain's American colonies, Spain itself could only supply 5% to 10%, and the rest needed to be imported. Therefore, this kind of disguised smuggling trade was extremely popular for a while.

(End of this chapter)